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UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

COMPARATIVE STUDY ON RFID, HOTSPOT AND CAR PLATE SCANNING METHOD: FOR

INTELLIGENT PARKING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

ISREDZA RAHMI BINTI A.HAMID (Bachelor of Information Technology, UUM)

Independent Study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science Information Technology

Faculty of Information Technology & Quantitative Sciences

April 2005

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This section is provided intent to give opportunities to all the people who are willing to sacrifice their valuable time and effort in order to make this research report hundred percent successful. What could have been better ways to thank everyone who was involved in this research than putting on a special tribute page in this report, so that those who read this report will acknowledge their unbelievable effort to make this report successful.

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful and the Most Gracious. I sincerely thank Allah S.W.t for giving me the strength, the ability and the courage to successfully complete this report. Without His guidance and blessing, I will not have the capability to finish this piece of work.

I would also wish to express my most gratitude to my lecturer, En. Ahmad Yusri Bin Dak, who is my supervisor, which has assisted me tremendously throughout this research in general and throughout completing this report in particular. His advice and visions have guided me to better understand the area of knowledge for this research.

Last but not least, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my parents who worked very hard in bringing me up. I also would like to thank to my beloved husband, my caring friends, classmates, relatives course, roommates and siblings for their second opinion and thoughts. Last but not least, I am indebted to a number of colleagues at Kolej Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn (Kuittho) for their support. This study was funded by Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA). It is having been a very successful report indeed.

Thank you again and may Allah give all of you guidance and reward.

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TITLE PAGE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENT

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

TABLE OF CONTENT

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview

1.2 Background o~ The Research

1.3 Research Questions

1.4 Objective of The Research

1.5 Significance of The Research

1.5.1 Shopping Complex

1.5.2 Car Park Management Operator

ii

iii

vii

viii

ix

xi

1

2

4

4

5

5

5

1.5.3 Vehicle Owner 5

1.6

1.7

1.5.4 Insurance Company 6

1.5.5 People Who Are Interested To Develop Parking

Management System

Scope of The Research

Limitation of The Research

6

6

6

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Intelligent Parking Management System 8

2.1.1 Intelligent Parking Management System Issues 9

2.1.1.1 Parking Availability 9

2.1.1.2 Parking Location and Routing 10

111

2.1.1.3 Advantages of Intelligent Parking

Management System 10

2.1.2 Intelligent Parking Management System Setup 11

2.2 Car Plate Scanning 12

2.2.1 Car Plate Scanning Process 13

2.2.2 Image Processing 16

2.2.2.1 Edge Detection 16

2.2.2.2 Threshold 17

2.2.2.3 Resampling 17

2.2.3 Car Plate Scanning Operation 18

2.2.4 Car Plate Scanning Issues 19

2.3 Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) 20

2.3.1 Hotspot Application 21

2.3.2 Hotspot Issues 22

2.3.3 Hotspot Advantage and Disadvantages 23

2.3.3.1 Advantages 23

2.3.3.2 Disadvantages 23

2.3.4 HotspotEnvironment 24

2.3.4.1 Size of The Location 24

2.3.4.2 Number of Users 24

2.3.4.3 Usage Models 25

2.4 The Evolution of RFID Technology 25

2.4.1 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) 27

2.4.2 Reader 30

2.4.3 Antenna 30

2.4.4 Anti-collision 31

2.4.5 RFIDMemory 31

2.4.6 RFID Data Transmission 32

2.4.6.1 Inductive Coupling 32

2.4.6.2 Electromagnetic Backscatter Coupling 32

2.4.7 Active and Passive RFID 33

2.4.8 RFID Specification 34

iv

2.5

2.6

2.4.9 RFID Implementation 35

2.4.10 RFID Smart Card 37

2.4.11 Range Performance 38

2.4.12 RFID Standards 42

2.4.13 The Future ofRFID 43

2.4.14 RFID Issues and Solutions 44

2.4.14.1 Orientation 45

2.4.14.2 Reader Coordination and Signal Processing 45

2.4.14.3 Product Packaging Independence 46

2.4.14.4 Multiple Standards 46

2.4.14.5 Longer Range 47

2.4.14.6 Lowering Manufacturing Costs 47

2.4.15 Privacy and Customer Pushback 48

Similar Research

Summary

48

50

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Primary Data Collection

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

4.1 Results and An"alysis of Data

4.1.1 Car Plate Scanning Method

4.1.2 Hotspot Technology

4.1.3 System Implemented RFID Technology

4.1.4 RFID Tags For In building Or Outbuilding

Parking Environment

CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

5.1 Discussions of Findings

5.1.1 Car Plate Scanning Method

5.1.2 RFID Implementation

5.1.2.1 RFID Tag and Access l\Iode

\'

51

52

52

55

56

58

60

60

61

62

LIST OF TABLES

Table Number

Table 1.1: Statistic Vehicle Stolen For Year 2000-2004

(Source:http://www.rmp.gov.mvlrmp03/statjsjindeks04.htm)

Page

2

Table 2.1: Main Differences Between Barcode and RFID 27

Table 2.2: Four Basic Range of Frequencies 30

Table 2.3: Comparison Between Active and Passive RFID. 33

Table 2.4: Frequency Band and Application (Source: AIM, 2001) 39

Table 2.5: Frequencies Classified Worldwide as ISM Frequency Ranges or

SRD Frequency Ranges 40

Table 2.6: Human Exposure Regulation (Source: Massachusetts

Institute of Technology, 2003) 43

Table 4.1: Analysis on Car Plate Scanning Method 53

Table 4.2: Brief Description on Car Plate Scanning Method 54

Table 4.3: Key To Be Considered Before Implementing Hotspot Application 55

Table 4.4: List of System Implement RFID Technology 56

Table 4.5: Characteristic ofRFID Tags Suitable For In building or Outbuilding

Parking Area. 58

Vll

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Number Page

Figure 2.1: Typical Configuration of License Plate Recognition (LPR) 12

Figure 2.2: A Segmented "K" Character 16

Figure 2.3: Progression ofImages As They Are Being Processed By Software 18

Figure 2.4: An RFID Tag, an RFID Tag With Printed Barcode and Dust-Sized

RFID Microchips. 28

Figure 2.5: Tag and Reader Configuration (Source: Larsson and Qviberg, 2004) 29

Figure 2.6: 96-bit EPC Scheme (Source: Dobson, 2003) 29

Figure 2.7: Antenna 30

Figure 2.8: RFID Smart Card 37

Figure 6.2: System setup for Intelligent Parking Management System 69

Figure 6.1: Proposed Intelligent Parking Management System using RFID and

hotspot technology 74

Figure 6.2: RFID Reader 75

viii

RFID

RF

Wi-Fi

IPS

VMS

HAR

MHz

LPR

DLL

IR

VLP

ANN

WLAN

NIC

GPRS

IEEE

AP

DNS

VPN

UPC

AIDC

EPC

LF

UHF

HF

VHF

ISM

EAS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Radio Frequency Identification

Radio Frequency

Wireless Fidelity

Intelligent Parking System

Variable Message Signs

Highway Advisory Radio

Megahertz

License Plate Recognition

Dynamic Link Library

Infra-Red

Vehicle License Plate

Artificial Neural Network

Wireless Local Area Network

Network Interface Card

General Packet Radio Service

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Access Point

Domain Name System

Virtual Private Network

Universal Product Code

Automatic Identification Data Capture

Electronic Product Code

Low frequency

Ultra High Frequency

High Frequency

Very High Frequency

Industrial-Scientific-Medical

Electronic Article Surveillance

IX

IC

PTS

LAN

CEPT

CSMA

ISO

OCR

PC

Integrated Circuit

Post och Telestyrelsen

Local area Network

Conference of Postal and Telecommunications

Carrier Sense Multiple Access

International Standard Organization

Optical Character Recognition

Personal Computer

x

ABSTRACT

Intelligent Parking lvlanagement System technology that enables l:fficil:nt USl: l1!

parking will be increasingly important as a growing population placcs c\w-gro\':ing demands on existing transportation infrastructure. While thc problems of parking shortages are well recognized, the cost of providing additional capacity is frl:qucntly prohibitive. Intelligent Parking lv!anagemcnt System may pro\'idl: a scnsible mC~lns to effectively increase parking capacity, while simultancously rl:ducing lkmand by enabling parking service operators to charge market rates depcnding on timl: of day. The potential benefits of Intelligent Parking lv!anagement System arl: it GlI1 impm"l: security for both car park operators and car park users, flexible acccss contml to

easily accommodate visitors and delivery vehicles, imprO\'e traffic flo\\' during pC:lk periods and others. The Intelligent Parking lvlanagement system using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and hotspot technology is thl: ad":Inccd p:lrking technologies to manage existing parking spaces at a shopping complex to incrcasl: effective capacity and transit access. Smart parking systems implemcntcd \\,orld\\'idt: have been found to reduce delays and improve convenience of parking (Shahl:cn, 2003). The car plate scanning implement also can reduce vehicle stolen problem and increase the security of parking area more competcntly. Although this is :I nc\\' technology in Malaysia, the RFID application is world \\'idc accl:ptl:d by othl:r country. The research method is a primary data which is gathercd through a litnaturl: review and on line web on RFID, hotspot and car plate scanning mcthod. Through this research, the writer found that passive RFID tags is morc cost cffccti"l: than active tags. It also the Jnost preferable tag by other rescarchcr. Although thl:rc art: some obstacles to implement RFID and hotspot technology, during invcstigation, thl: writer found that there arc four solutions can be put into practicc: implelllt:nt reference tag to amplify the passivc tag signal to havc grl:atcr length of covnagc, utilize hybrid RFID tag design that is protocol-compatiblc with existing Institutt: of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 or Bluetooth standards as \\'cll as existing Radio Frequency (RF)-tag standards, the arrangement of antcnna and RFID tag and use RFID reader with Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) 802.11 intcrfacc to dctl:ct RFID tag. Finally, the proposed network architecture for thc Intclligl:nt Parking Management System is designed.

Xl

CHAPTER!

INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides the background of the study. It also gives details of the

research questions, objectives, significant, scope and limitation of the study.

1.3 Overview

Increasingly, parking is becoming an important aspect of transportation planning.

Many areas have seen explosive growth in the number of visitors and customers as

the result of urban revitalization, uptown development and the general trend toward

increased mobility of our society. As a result, localities are conducting studies on

parking supply management (Louisell et ai., NA).

Intelligent parking management systems are highly specific application that uses

precise signing scheme that can include infonnation on current parking inventory and

parking facility locations. While entering the gate, a camera will capture picture and

scan the car plate number and embedded the infonnation into the ticket assigned to

the vehicle owner. This ticket is using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

technology. It uses a semiconductor (micro-chip) in a tag or label to transmit stored

data when the tag or label is exposed to radio waves of the correct frequency. RFID

is used because it is non line of sight naturally, the tags can be read in various

substances such as snow, fog, ice, paint and crusted grime.

Each level install with hotspot which is used to detect empty parking slots based on

the ticket assign to the vehicle owner. The vehicle owner should not bring along the

ticket to the mall. If this happen, the hotspot will assign that the parking slot is empty

and available to other customer. It is important to understa?d the hotspot

environment in order to deploy a configuration that meets the users' requirements.

There are three key factors that determine what type of hotspot environment to

create: the physical size of the location, the number of simultaneous users, and the

types of usage expected.

If they want to leave the parking, the camera will scan again the car plate number to

check whether it is synchronized with the ticket given. Beside that, the car park

management operator can check whether the driver is the appropriate person based

on the previous picture taken.

1.4 Background of The Research

Most of the vehicle owners are facing problem to allocate parking spaces in shopping

complex. They will go round looking for parking spaces and finally caught in a huge

traffic jams both inside.and outside the car park. This is especially so during special

events such as sales or festivals. Unfortunately to the driver if the parking rate is

based on time .. According to police statistic as depicted in Table 1.1, the amount of

vehicle that has been stolen is increasing. This is maybe because lack of awareness

from the vehicle owner and shopping complex.

Table 1.1: Statistic Vehicle Stolen For Year 2000-2004 (Source: http://www.rmp.gov.my/rmp03/statjsjindeks04.htm)

Vehicle 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Lorry and van 3698 4306 4570 5551 4892 Car 7278 8520 8544 8537 8624 Motorcycle 45903 47223 47137 50212 51560

2

To prevent this from happen, intelligent parking management systems is developed

with various features as stated above:

i. Centralized monitoring system.

11. Parking Database to monitor available parking slot.

Ill. Color and Car Plate Capture, extraction or recognition.

iv. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).

v. Empty space information is displayed on the monitor while entering the gate.

Vl. Hotspot is used to detect empty parking spaces by detecting RFID frequency

and update it with the database so that it can preview available slot on the

screen to the customer.

Centralized monitoring system is the main system of the Intelligent parking

management system. This monitoring systems is used to manage and monitor others

sub components of the system. All the update information is done here. The parking

database records vehicles and owner detail, event log and vacancy info. If the owner

forgot where they put the vehicle, they can go to the nearest kiosk available to check

the vehicle's position by entering the car plate number.

Hotspot communicates with the centralized monitoring system to update the database

regarding available parking spaces. It will detect based on RFID frequency. While

entering the gate, a camera will capture the color and car plate number, extract it and

recognize it to embed it into the ticket. The car image is capture from video stream to

extract and recognize the car color and plate number using Image Processing and

Neural Network. The RFID is embedded in the ticket to keep track of the vehicles in

the car park. The hotspot detects the RFID signal; the parking slot is assigned as full.

The main purpose of this research is to produce comparative studies on various

intelligent parking management systems. This study tries to implement hotspot and

3

RFID technology in parking management system, which is not yet been used by

other country.

1.5 Research Questions

This research study will try to answer the following question:

"What is the specification for hotspot coverage, RFID and car plate scanning method

to be implemented in the Intelligent Parking Management System?"

1.6 Objective of The Research

Aim:

To conduct a comparative review on various system implementing RFID technology.

Objectives:

i. To identifY existing Intelligent Parking Management System.

11. To investigate the teclmical specification for hotspot, RFID and car plate

scanning method.

111. To choose and describe the specification for hotspot, RFID and car plate

scanning method to be implemented in the Intelligent Parking Management

System.

4

1.8 Significance of The Research

This research will benefit many parties. Not only to those who always engaged with

the Parking Management System, this paper also will benefit vehicle owner. Among

the parties that will benefit from this stuff are:

1.8.1 Shopping Complex

This research can be a guideline for shopping complex to apply intelligent parking

management system using hotspot, RFID and car plate scan method. In order to

achieve this, they have to setup appropriate device and software according to the

specification given.

1.8.2 Car Park Management Operator

This study will guide car management operator to provide superior services. As a

result, this will attract more customers and thus increase business. The public would

not mind paying a little extra for these services as long as their property is protected.

1.8.3 Vehicle Owner

This research will simplify vehicle owner to find empty parking slots at a shopping

complex through monitor available at the entrance. This monitor shows vacant

parking. Moreover, there is an extra security because the ticket assigned is

synchronizing with the car plate number. While entering the gate, a camera will

recognize the plate number and embedded it into the ticket. If the owner wanted to

leave, the camera will check whether the ticket is synchronize or not with the car

plate number.

5

1.8.4 Insurance Comp.any

This research \~ilI be valuable to the insurance company where it can reduce the

amount paid to claimants arising from stolen vehicles in indoor car parks through

first-class safety.

1.8.5 People Who Are Interested To Develop Parking Management System

This research will be the best reference for peoples who are interested in developing

intelligent parking management system. This pioneer research implementing hotspot

and RFID will be valuable data to the new investor and

1.9 Scope of The Research

This comparative study will be done on various intelligent parking management

systems available around the world. This research is focusing for indoor parking such

as at the shopping coomplex. Wrapping up this research documents is the best

specification for hotspot coverage, RFID and car plate scanning method together

with the best hardware and software to implement it. This research will be a good

guideline to people who are interested in implementing this system.

1.10 Limitation of The Research.

Limitations of the research are:

I, This idea is new in Malaysia. Therefore, there are lacks of infomlation

regarding parking spaces in shopping complex and intelligent parking system

available.

6

11. If the vehicle owner brings the ticket to the shopping mall, the hotspot will

not detect that the parking spaces has been occupied. This will cause problem

to other user while searching for empty parking slot.

111. The vehicle owner have to put the ticket in a save place in the car. As RFID is

line of sight, they can put it even under car seat.

iv. Good maintenance is compulsory in order to manage the system accurate and

precisely.

v. The camera did not capture the driver face clearly. This will cause problem to

the car management operator to detect whether the driver is legal or not.

7

CHAPTER 2

LITERA TURE REVIE\V

The literature is a valuable resources and an important storehouse of knowledge and

thinking about a topic or area. This chapter will discuss more about all of the

information related to tlie research study. It covers the research on Intelligent Parking

Management system available, hotspot and RFID teclmical specification and car

plate scanning method.

The literature review III this paper is based on books, journal articles, on-line

documents and web search covering the areas on Intelligent Parking Management

system available, hotspot and RFID technical specification and car plate scanning

method.

2.7 Intelligent Parking Management System

With decreasing parking supply and increasing enrollment and shopping complex

staff numbers, they are beginning to realize the importance of properly allocating

available parking. Intelligent Parking Management Systems can provide the positive

guidance necessary to help shopping complex's customers find available parking

quickly and safely. It is common for the owner of a vehicle to take a ticket at the

entrance of a car park or insert a membership card. The ticket or the card allows the

driver to enter.

8

There are many studies regarding Intelligent Parking System Crowder and Walton

(2001) provide technical report on Intelligent Parking System (IPS) for the

University of Texas reallocates parking and reduce congestion and illegal parks. It

provides university way finding, which can complement IPS. Variable Message

Signs (VMS) have been considered by the university to provide way finding and

parking information.

2.7.1 Intelligent Parking Management System Issues

Intelligent parking management solutions can take on a range of configurations based

on the specific problem being addressed. According to Louisell et al. (2005) in

general, the parking problems can break down into two broad categories: lack of

information on the availability of parking spaces at a specific location and lack of

information on what facilities are available and what is the best routing to get to

them.

2.7.1.1 Parking Availability

Systems are deployed to continuously monitor the number of available spaces at each

participating parking facility. This information is fed to a centralized computer that

generates messages for deployment through any number of media ranging from

general broadcast media services to highly specific messages to specific addressees.

The messages can be delivered to parking patrons via the worldwide web, specialized

TV stations, Highway Advisory Radio (HAR) systems, VMS devices, subscription e­

mail services or potentially to onboard navigation systems and in-vehicle signing

systems installed in privately-owned autos. Parking information provided in these

formats can be useful in pre-trip planning and reroute to the attraction to be visited.

9

2.7.1.2 Parking Location and Routing.

Information systems are populated with data on the location of parking facilities, the

number of spaces they have, the hours of operation, the cost of parking, nearness to

major attractions and directions from major points of access. This information can be

accessed in pre-trip planning via the worldwide web or can be included in onboard

navigation system or in-vehicle signing system packages. In addition, this

information can be embedded in effective signing concepts that provide en-route

travelers with trailblazer information as they approach major attractions.

2.7.1.3 Advantages ofIntelligent Parking Management System

Listed below are the advantages of implementing Intelligent Parking Management

system:

i. Can be used to double check that the car is allowed to cross and shorten the

time it takes to go through the border, so shortening the typical long queues.

11. Car park control and management using automatic license plate recognition.

iii. Access control to authorized users at staff car parks and sensitive sites.

iv. Maintain current and historical record of vehicles on parking slot.

v. Improved security for both car park operators and car park users.

VI. Flexible Access Control to easily accommodate visitors and delivery

vehicles.

vii. Can improve traffic flow during peak periods.

viii. Car park usage analysis for management purposes.

ix. Benefit~ to the traveler are increased ease of access, reduced time spent

looking for parking, and reduced frustration.

10

2.7.2 Intelligent Parking Management System Setup

In order to take photographs of the car plates, the digital camera was placed in front

of the car at one meter away from the front of the car and at a height of 0.5 meter

(Chanson & Robert, 2002 and Alias & Mohamad, 1999). Photographs were taken

under varying weather conditions ranging from imminent rain and cloudy sky

through to very sunny. Some license plates were dirty or damaged while some were

very clean.

The Intelligent Parking Management system was carried out by Chanson and Roberts

(2002) used Intel Pentium III 733 MHz processor, 256 MB SDRam PC133, a 15 GB

7200 rpm hard drive and a 32 MB TNT2 AGP video card. The photographs that were

taken with a Sony digital Mavica MVC -FD71 were 640 pixels wide and 480 pixels

high. The software was developed using Borland Delphi 5.

Hoffman (2004) proposed License Plate Recognition (LPR) systems consist of the

following units:

1. Camera - Take the images of the car (front or rear side)

ii. Illumination - A controlled light that can bright up the plate and allows day

and night operation. In most cases the illumination is Infra-Red (IR) which is

invisible to the driver.

111. Frame grabber - An interface board between the camera and the PC that

allows the software to read the image information.

iv. Computer - A PC running Windows or Linux. It runs the LPR application

which controls the system, reads the images, analyzes and identifies the plate,

and interfaces with other applications and systems.

v. Software - The application and the recognition package. Usually the

recognition package is supplied as a Dynamic Link Library (DLL).

11

vi. Hardware - various input or output boards used to IOterfa e the external \\ orld

such as control boards and networkmg board .

vii. Database - The events are recorded on a local databa e or tran mtned o,er the

network. The data include the recogl1ltion results and the ehde or dm er­

face image file.

The following illustration in Figure 2.1 show a typical configuration of a LPR

system. The application runs on Windows application platform In the PC and

interfaces to a set of camera or illumination units which are Interfaced by the frame

grabber. The application controls the en ors and controls via an Input output card

that is connected through a terminal block to the inputs and outputs. The apphcatlon

displays the results and sends them via serial communication and via DDE me ages

to other app li cation. It writes the information to local database or to optIOnal remote

databases.

-

Figure 2.1: Typical Configuration of License Plate Recognition (LPR)

2.8 Car Plate Scanning

In order to monitor entenng and eXltrng cars In parking lots and to dl harge

automatically in toll roads, researehe of heen e plate recogmtJon has been a tl\'ated .

12